HRPOL20 Long Service Award Policy by Provide Community

Long Service Awards

Version: V7

Ratified by: FIC

Date ratified: 01/08/2021

Job Title of author: HR Business Partner

Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group Staff Partnership Forum

Equality Impact Assessed by: HR Business Partners

1. Policy Statement

Provide values the commitment, loyalty and dedication of its staff, and in particular wishes to recognise and reward those members of staff who have long service with Provide, all companies within the Provide Group, including its NHS predecessors, and have worked in the health sector delivering NHS and public health contracts

2. Scope of Policy

This policy applies to Provide employees Staff employed on fixed term contracts or part term employment will be eligible on the same terms as staff employed on full term contracts.

The Long Service Award will not apply to the following staff:

Zero Hours

Bank (Workforce Solutions)

Agency

Volunteers

Locum

Those we engage through a contract for services are not eligible for a long service award under this policy.

3. Definition of Long Service

Long service refers to any service with Provide (or its NHS predecessor organisations) and other NHS employers, of 25 or more years. The NHS service does not have to be continuous but reckonable.

Employees who have worked for the NHS and then had a break in service, will have the period or periods of past service added together with their current service and will be entitled to an award if the total aggregated service is 25years or more.

Service with other healthcare providers or local authorities may exceptionally be counted if the post held was directly related to delivering NHS contracts.

Bank work or work undertaken on a zero hours contract will not be counted towards service.

4. Long Service Awards

All Provide staff who achieve 25 years of service will receive vouchers to the value of £250.This is likely to be considered a “Benefit in Kind” by HMRC and it is the responsibility of recipients to declare the award on their tax return, or through direct contact with HMRC

5. Responsibilities

Employees are responsible for completing the “Long Service Award - Declaration of Previous NHS Service” form (see Appendix 1), which should be countersigned by their line manager and submitted to the Human Resources Department for processing.

6. Monitoring

Provide will monitor all areas of implementation of the policy and keep full records of employees benefiting from it

7. Raising Awareness

For this policy to be effective, it is important that all employees are aware of the processes, and that managers are trained in their use. Action to ensure this will be as follows:

• The policy will be available on the intranet;

• Managers will explain the provisions to new employees as part of the induction process;

• Special attention will be paid to employees whose first language is not English, or who have some visual impairment or disability, and alternative formats will be made available where possible;

• The policy will be promoted annually through Team Brief or a similar staff communication.

8. Record Keeping and Confidentiality

Provide will adhere to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) and the Code of Practice. Within these restrictions, all reports will be openly available to employees.

9. Reporting Fraud and Bribery

Definitions

Fraud is where any person who dishonestly makes a false representation to make a gain for himself or another or dishonestly fails to disclose to another person, information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, or commits fraud by abuse of position, including any offence as defined in the Fraud Act 2006.

Bribery is the giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the ‘improper performance’ of trust or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith. Where the Provide Group is engaged in commercial activity it could be considered guilty of a corporate bribery offence if an employee, agent, subsidiary or any other person acting on its behalf bribes another person intending to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of business for the Provide Group and it cannot demonstrate that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent such. The adequate procedures that the Provide Group is required to have in place to prevent bribery being committed on their behalf are performed by six principles – proportionate procedures, toplevel commitment, risk assessment, communication (including training), monitoring and review. The Provide Group does not tolerate any bribery on its behalf, even if this might result in a loss of business for it. Criminal liability must be prevented at all times.

Counter Fraud

If any member of staff has good reason to suspect a colleague, patient or other person of fraud, bribery and / or corruption, involving the Provide Group, they should report their genuine concerns to the LCFS or Executive Finance Director immediately. The LCFS will then decide on the next course of action and advise the member of staff accordingly. All calls are dealt with in the strictest of confidence and callers may remain anonymous.

Suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption should be reported to the Local Counter Fraud Specialists on telephone 0845 300 3333, Provide’s Chief Executive Officer or NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) via an online reporting form: https://cfa.nhs.uk/reportfraud: or NHSCFA Freephone: 0800 028 4060. Further details including email addresses for those responsible can be found on Provide’s Intranet.

Individuals suspected of committing an offence of fraud, bribery or corruption may be subject to criminal and/or disciplinary investigation, which could result in criminal and/or disciplinary action being taken, including prosecution and/or dismissal. For more information, please refer to the Local Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy or to Provide’s Counter Fraud intranet pages.

10. Review

This document will be kept under general review but will be reviewed no later than 2 years from the date of adoption. Any new statutory provisions affecting this document will automatically take precedence.

11. Appendix 1: Long Service Award – Declaration of Previous Service

I declare that I have achieved 25 or more years’ consolidated service with either Provide or the wider NHS and to date, have never received a 25 years long service award.

Bank work and work undertaken through a zero hours contract will not be counted for service.

Details of my service is as follows:

I confirm the information as correct and complete. I understand that knowingly providing false information may constitute an offence under the Fraud Act 2006, which may result in disciplinary and / or criminal investigation and action.

Signed (Employee):…………………………………………………………………

Print Name:…………………………………… Date:……………………………...

Signed (Line Manager):…………………………………………………………….

Print Name:………………………………… Date:…………………………………

Please send the completed form to the Human Resources Department, 900 The Crescent, Colchester Business Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 9YQ

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EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS: Framework and outline briefing notes

Attached is a framework, customised to Provide, and some short advisory notes on an approach on carrying out Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) at Provide

Briefings are being arranged to explore undertaking such assessments in practice, using ‘live’ and relevant case studies.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE: Stage One: ‘Screening’

Name of project/policy/strategy (hereafter referred to as “initiative”):

Long Service Awards Policy & Procedure

Provide a brief summary (bullet points) of the aims of the initiative and main activities:

Outlines the policy and procedure for recognising an employee’s long service with a monetary award.

Project/Policy Manager: Assistant Director of HR

Date: April 2020

This stage establishes whether a proposed initiative will have an impact from an equality perspective on any particular group of people or community – i.e. on the grounds of race (incl. religion/faith), gender (incl. sexual orientation), age, disability, or whether it is “equality neutral” (i.e. have no effect either positive or negative). In the case of gender, consider whether men and women are affected differently.

Q1. Who will benefit from this initiative? Is there likely to be a positive impact on specific groups/communities (whether or not they are the intended beneficiaries), and if so, how? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”? i.e. will have no particular effect on any group.

Neutral – The policy operates dependant on length of NHS service and applies to all employees. There will be a slight advantageto older workers who have had the opportunity to obtain longer service but as this is a one off award the advantage is not considered material.

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Q2. Is there likely to be an adverse impact on one or more minority/under-represented or community groups as a result of this initiative? If so, who may be affected and why?

Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”?

Neutral

Q3. Is the impact of the initiative – whether positive or negative - significant enough to warrant a more detailed assessment (Stage 2 – see guidance)? If not, will there be monitoring and review to assess the impact over a period time? Briefly (bullet points) give reasons for your answer and any steps you are taking to address particular issues, including any consultation with staff or external groups/agencies.

Neutral

Review date: April 2023

Guidelines: Things to consider

• Equality impact assessments at Provide take account of relevant equality legislation and include age, (i.e. young and old,); race and ethnicity, gender, disability, religion and faith, and sexual orientation.

• The initiative may have a positive, negative or neutral impact, i.e. have no particular effect on the group/community.

• Where a negative (i.e. adverse) impact is identified, it may be appropriate to make a more detailed EIA (see Stage 2), or, as important, take early action to redress this – e.g. by abandoning or modifying the initiative. NB: If the initiative contravenes equality legislation, it must be abandoned or modified.

• Where an initiative has a positive impact on groups/community relations, the EIA should make this explicit, to enable the outcomes to be monitored over its lifespan.

• Where there is a positive impact on particular groups does this mean there could be an adverse impact on others, and if so can this be justified? - e.g. are there other existing or planned initiatives which redress this?

• It may not be possible to provide detailed answers to some of these questions at the start of the initiative. The EIA may identify a lack of relevant data, and that datagathering is a specific action required to inform the initiative as it develops, and also to form part of a continuing evaluation and review process.

• It is envisaged that it will be relatively rare for full impact assessments to be carried out at Provide Usually, where there are particular problems identified in the screening stage, it is envisaged that the approach will be amended at this stage, and/or setting up a monitoring/evaluation system to review a policy’s impact over time.

Equality Impact Assessment Template: Stage 2:

(To be used where the ‘screening phase has identified a substantial problem/concerns)

This stage examines the initiative in more detail in order to obtain further information where required about its potential adverse or positive impact from an equality perspective. It will help inform whether any action needs to be taken and may form part of a continuing assessment framework as the initiative develops.

Q1. What data/information is there on the target beneficiary groups/communities? Are any of these groups under- or over-represented? Do they have access to the same resources? What are your sources of data and are there any gaps?

Q2. Is there a potential for this initiative to have a positive impact, such as tackling discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity and good community relations? If yes, how? Which are the main groups it will have an impact on?

Q3. Will the initiative have an adverse impact on any particular group or community/community relations? If yes, in what way? Will the impact be different for different groups – e.g. men and women?

Q 4. Has there been consultation/is consultation planned with stakeholders/ beneficiaries/ staff who will be affected by the initiative? Summarise (bullet points) any important issues arising from the consultation.

Q.5. Given your answers to the previous questions, how will your plans be revised to reduce/eliminate negative impact or enhance positive impact? Are there specific factors which need to be taken into account?

Q6. How will the initiative continue to be monitored and evaluated, including its impact on particular groups/ improving community relations? Where appropriate, identify any additional data that will be required.

Guidelines: Things to consider

• An initiative may have a positive impact on some sectors of the community but leave others excluded or feeling they are excluded. Consideration should be given to how this can be tackled or minimised.

• It is important to ensure that relevant groups/communities are identified who should be consulted. This may require taking positive action to engage with those groups who are traditionally less likely to respond to consultations, and could form a specific part of the initiative.

• The consultation process should form a meaningful part of the initiative as it develops, and help inform any future action.

• If the EIA shows an adverse impact, is this because it contravenes any equality legislation? If so, the initiative must be modified or abandoned. There may be another way to meet the objective(s) of the initiative.

Further information:

Useful Websites

www.equalityhumanrights.com Website for new Equality agency

www.employers-forum.co.uk – Employers forum on disability

www.disabilitynow.org.uk – online disability related newspaper

www.opportunitynow.org.uk - Employer member organisation (gender)